Colombia peace talks enter ‘toad swallowing’ phase
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Version 0 of 1. With every incremental advance in the peace negotiations between Colombian government negotiators and FARC rebel commanders, President Juan Manuel Santos faces an increasingly unpalatable spectacle — the Bogota equivalent of the "Satan sandwich." The armistice talks have been taking place in Cuba for nearly two years, and for the process to advance, more and more FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commanders are being flown to Havana to participate and take a personal stake in the outcome. But that means Santos must guarantee safe passage to Cuba for the same rebel leaders whom government forces have been battling in Colombia's jungles. Notorious FARC commanders who haven't been seen in years are suddenly showing up on Colombian TV reports wearing sunglasses and guayaberas in Havana. Santos's political opponents have seized on this, saying the FARC is using the talks to allow its top figures to escape capture. Some of the president's rivals have called for an investigation into his decision to allow "Timochenko," the rebels' top boss, to travel repeatedly to Havana on a noncommercial flight from Venezuela. It's not clear how many other FARC leaders have been transported on Colombian government flights or whether they reached Cuba by their own means through Venezuela or elsewhere. But Santos used a rather vivid metaphor this week to defend the decision to let his enemies reach the bargaining table. He likened it to "swallowing toads." "I know it's difficult for a lot of people to see these figures who have done so much damage to the Colombian people," he said in a television interview. "But if we want peace, we have to make it with enemies. Peace isn't something you make with friends." Preventing an additional "20 or 30 years" of civil war — Colombia's armed conflict has been simmering since the 1960s — meant having to do some rather unpalatable things, Santos said. "It's true that these are big toads that one has to swallow, but that's the way to reach a peace agreement," he said. About 20 FARC leaders are currently in Havana for the latest round of talks with Colombian government negotiators. By some counts, there are now as many top FARC field commanders in Cuba as there are on the battlefield. The rebel group hasn't eased up its offensives, though, staging attacks this week in different parts of Colombia. Both the government and the rebels say they want to keep the pressure on until a peace agreement is complete. Their negotiations in Havana have produced agreements on three of five agenda points, including land reform, ending the drug trade and the future ability of the FARC to participate in electoral politics. What's left is an agreement on the nuts-and-bolts of disarmament and demobilization, along with reparations for the victims and a raft of pending charges against FARC commanders accused of war crimes. Once all five points are settled, the negotiations would move into a final phase to produce an agreement that Colombian voters would have to ratify. The conflict has killed about 200,000 Colombians. |